A Great Future for All

By John Kinsella, CMC, CCE, WGMC, AAC

Returning home from the national convention in Orlando, I came to the conclusion that we have a great future together because of the hard work of all the committees and task forces and the board of directors.

We have begun the process of building greater integrity and value into our certification program, a goal we all share at ACF. To do this, the board decided to go forward with its plan to restructure the ACF certification program following national certification standards established by the National Commission for Certifying Agencies (NCCA), which is the accrediting body for the National Organization for Competency Assurance (NOCA). The first step is to form a certification-compliance commission that will become the foundation for the development and maintenance of the re-engineered ACF certification program. I've asked my board to give me nominations for the commission, which, like the ACFF Accrediting Commission, will include public members to meet NCCA standards.

This will be an ongoing process of continual improvements, with the initial development phase lasting between 18 and 24 months. In the meantime, I have asked our current certification chair to continue the excellent job he has been doing, and to maintain the current system in the most efficient and consistent manner possible.

Also, the certified-master-pastry-chef task force will be recommending changes to that level of certification based on a report from task-force members. At the certified-masterchef level, the committee is conducting a review and will be making recommendations to the certification-compliance commission concerning how we will proceed with that level of examination in the future. I have found that there is a great chasm between each level of certification, which makes it more difficult for members to move up to a certification level at an acceptable rate.

We are all aware of the difficulties that some of our members are having going through the certification process. The new commission will recommend steps to make the process run smoother and enable members to accomplish their certification goals. And eventually, we would like to see all certification levels tested in all American Culinary Federation regions. This would be a great leap forward, and one that will help us progress toward licensure.

There has been exemplary work done in the past to make our certification program better, but if we are to become the world leader in certification, this is the path that we must take to ensure a future as the leader in culinary arts worldwide. My board has agreed to commit the dollars that it will take to attain that leadership role and be the only true representation of certification worldwide.

When I became your president, I promised to ensure that we would have membership growth, which we have, and that we would have a strong management team at the national office to take care of day-to-day business. My board sets policy, and we expect the national-office staff, under the leadership of our executive director of operations, to enact those policies as quickly and as effectively as possible.

As we put our trust in our executive director of operations and her management team, you must trust us, your board, to do the job properly and efficiently. I am extremely lucky to have such a strong board working with me, and when you unite these two teams, there can only be one result, a bright future for the American Culinary Federation and its members.

Good cooking to you all.